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Saturday, January 25, 2014

Roman Food and Feast

Week 10: We prepared several Roman dishes and had a grand feast.

Imagine Italian food without tomatoes or pasta. The Ancient Romans ate a wide variety of foods. Some of their favorites
were olives, olive oil, vinegar, fish sauce, honey, wheat, vegetables,
and grapes, but no tomatoes. Tomatoes came from the Americas several years after the fall of the Roman Empire. Some of the Roman dishes we prepared were items we commonly
eat, but others were quite new.

The Romans ate lying down on couches and belched a lot because it was polite. Before meals both hands and feet were washed by slaves. Since there were no forks they ate with fingers and washed in dipping bowls that often contained flower petals.

My friend Laurie did an outstanding job preparing this lesson. If I was in charge of food we probably would have created one of these dishes and called it good. I was impressed with how well organized and ambitious she was. The feast was a super success.

Bread
Bread, olives and olive oil were the simplest items on the menu. All Romans ate bread, but the poor people ate bread known as black bread. It was very dark in color because it contained bugs, rocks and dirt. Sadly, it was responsible for chipping and rotting many Roman teeth.

The kids cut up three types bread from the German Bakery which we ate by dipping the pieces in olive oil and vinegar.

Fruit Tray
The Romans had a vast trading networks, so food was not limited to what could be grown locally. Apples from the north and figs from the east were some of the available fruits.

Roasted Vegetables
Both rich and poor Romans consumed a variety of vegetables which they often ate with olive oil. Leeks, onions, broccoli, beans and carrots were roasted and sprinkled with salt and olive oil for our Roman vegetable dish.

Ovis ApalisOvis Apalis is somewhat similar to deviled eggs. Hard boiled eggs were topped with a mixture of pine nuts, fish oil, vinegar and honey. Although the fish oil didn't smell very good, the eggs tasted great. All the kids ate theirs and I went back for seconds.

Isicia Omentata Isicia Omentata are similar to hamburgers or meatballs, except the ingredients used for stuffing are quite different.

The meat was rolled into balls and flattened into patties. Ours were cooked in the oven inside aluminum foil. To me they tasted like meat balls, but better. They had a tangy taste which was probably due to the juice and vinegar. I would definitely make them again.

Dulcia DomesticaDulcia Domestica are salted dates, stuffed with nuts and cinnamon, then cooked in honey and grape juice.

Ours were stuffed with crushed almonds, hazelnuts and cinnamon.

The smell alone is a good reason to make this dish. Heating honey and grape juice just fills the house with happiness.

Libum
Flour, eggs, ricotta cheese, honey, and bay leaves are the only ingredients required to make Libum - a sort of Roman Cheesecake.

Bay leaves were soaked in honey and then poured over the warm bread.

This got my vote for favorite Roman dish.

To see our other Roman History activities please visit our History Page.

11 comments:

Julie - I love it! Post to our WW link-up this week! Here is a post from my Roman studies with the kids last year http://www.solagratiamom.com/2012/09/making-roman-roads-and-salt-dough-map.html Love bringing it alive for kids! Awesome!

What a wonderful feast! We did this for our Ancient Greece studies a few months ago and some of the foods are similar. You've made it easy for me for once we get to an Ancient Rome celebration...thanks!

About Me

I am an American mother of three who spent six years living in Germany. Education has always been a primary focus for me. This blog is packed with fun educational activities for kids. Speed! is a skip-counting game I created in 2011 to help kids learn multiplication. In June 2012 my younger daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia, so that topic has quickly taken over a portion of this blog. You can reach me at
jmommymom @ gmail . com